The Official Velocity Agency WWDC 2013 Report

The 2013 WWDC has come to pass, and the tech world is buzzing with a wide range of reactions to Apple’s major announcements. At Velocity Agency, we were glued to our computer screens yesterday as we waited anxiously to see what would be unveiled, yet we remained acutely aware that the news would most likely make all of our current smartphones and laptops immediately obsolete. But that’s fine by us, because nothing is more exciting for a marketing agency than the prospect of a new line of cutting-edge gadgets to power our day to day operations.

The office consensus is that Apple’s new mobile operating system, iOS 7, is what we are looking forward to most. Apple CEO Tim Cook is calling the new iOS the biggest thing to happen to the iPhone since its initial launch, so clearly some big changes are on the horizon. What we know so far is that the new operating system is going to feature a completely rethought and redesigned look built from the ground up. The biggest change will be a shift away from Apple’s previously skeuomorphic based design. For those of you who don’t know, skeuomorphic designs are based off of physical objects and real-world textures, such as the green felt and wood theme to the current Apple Game Center app. For iOS 7, Apple will be moving to cleaner, flat looking designs, which we think will provide a generally more aesthetically pleasing mobile experience.

Now, let’s talk about iTunes Radio, Apple’s long awaited Spotify competitor, which was also unveiled at the WWDC. The biggest news is that it will be free for all users, and ad free for subscribers to iTunes Match, the cloud-based storage system for cross-device listening. This means that for about $25 a year, users will be able to store all their downloaded music in the cloud and stream all the music they don’t own for free. Pretty sweet deal. But, Spotify has a big head start on Apple, so it remains to be seen whether or not they will be able to convert users who are already signed up for other streaming services. More often than not, Apple is on the cutting edge, but in terms of streaming services they are basically the last on the bandwagon following Google’s big announcement just a few weeks ago.

The only major letdown from yesterday’s event: no new iPhone. But, we’re not worried. We all know the iPhone 5 S can’t be far off, and at the very least we will see it by the time iOS 7 launches in the fall. Until then, we will be keeping a close watch on all things Apple. Be sure to keep with us as we track the release of all the new products announced at this year’s WWDC. We will be posting our up to date commentary on Facebook and Twitter, so join in on the conversation and let us know what you think!